The present invention relates to a mode control system for selecting a mode of operation of an apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mode control system for a thermal printer which has more than one mode of operation.
There are presently many apparatuses which have more than one mode of operation. For instance, a thermal printer having a built-in battery has a normal printing mode, a battery refresh mode, and a battery charge mode.
In the conventional thermal printer, many operational buttons or switches are provided in order to select the mode of operation. Further, other operational buttons are provided for turning the power ON and OFF, and for feeding a thermosensitive sheet on which an image is formed. Therefore, many operational buttons are required in order to provide the many modes of operation of the thermal printer. However, in order to reduce the size of the thermal printer, the number of operational buttons should be reduced. If the number of operational buttons in reduced the performance of the thermal printer will be reduced.